Providing For Consideration Of Senate Amendments To H.R. 3590, Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act Of 2009, And Providing For Consideration Of H.R. 4872, Health Care And Education Reconciliation Act Of 2010
Floor Speech
Providing For Consideration Of Senate Amendments To H.R. 3590, Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act Of 2009, And Providing For Consideration Of H.R. 4872, Health Care And Education Reconciliation Act Of 2010
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Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this flawed health bill.
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Mr. Speaker, there's no such thing as a free lunch and there's no such thing as free health care. Yet, the Democrats ramming this legislation through the House against the will of the American people would have you believe that we're going to extend coverage to 32 million and subsidize millions of others, and it's not going to cost average Americans a thing. Somehow, they say, this will all be covered by big businesses and high-income earners, and it won't have any effect whatsoever on average Americans. It's the mysterious ``them'' who will pick up the tab, not ``us.''
The truth is that we're all going to pay, and we will pay big. This legislation will raise taxes by $569 billion, it will raise the insurance premiums of all Americans, it will place a huge new tax on jobs and it will put expensive mandates on individuals and employers.
There will be $52 billion in new taxes on employers who can't afford to provide health insurance. So what's going to happen when you drastically hike up the cost of jobs? We'll have fewer jobs. This Congress is recklessly destroying jobs at time when unemployment is at nearly 10 percent. At a moment when unemployed Americans are looking for work to provide for their families, at a time when many more are underemployed or working part time, at a time when businesses are unable to get the loans they need to expand, the Democratic Congress is taking us backwards. We will make a bad situation worse.
For the next 4 years, in fact, we'll implement the taxes but not the coverage. We keep hearing Democrats say that 45,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance. According to the Democrats' own rhetoric--as faulty as it may be--they're ignoring 180,000 needless deaths over the next 4 years.
Mr. Speaker, there is no free lunch. It is our duty, first and foremost, to render tough decisions. We have to prioritize. Our priority in today's climate should be creating and saving jobs, and therefore, helping more Americans gain employer-provided coverage. Then, we can focus our attention on bringing down the cost of health care and expanding access without adding on a new entitlement that we can't afford.
You know, Mr. Speaker, it's remarkable to me that for a President who campaigned on reaching across the aisle and bridging the partisan divide, the only bipartisanship on his signature issue is in opposition. Democrats and Republicans are joined together in opposing this government takeover of health care. There are 25,000 Americans protesting this legislation outside these walls. There are 39 state legislatures threatening to fight this law in court. Large majorities of American citizens are begging their Member of Congress to vote ``no''.
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